The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-07-21
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
WAsH1NeroN, D. c.. July Is, 1887

WASHINGTON, D. c., July IS, 1887.
Matters both lScal and National have
been quiet at the Capitol this past.:week.
Nothing has transpired to- relieve the
monotony of the heated spell, except the
sadness cast over the city by the assassi-
nation in broad day of one of the most
prominent men in business and social
life at the Capitol. Joseph O. g. Ken.
nedy, a real estate agent and Attorney
for the National Bank, was murdered in
cold blood after leaving his Office for
home on the. afternoon of Thursday.
The murderer was crank just dis.
charged the day before from the work
house, and who held an imaginary
grievance against his victim. The in
strument used was case knife, which
without momeul's warning, and just
after the victim had deposited his letters
in the mail box, was thrust with deadly
effect into the abdomen of the aged and
esteemed citizen, and caused death in a
few minutes afterwards. Mr.. Kennedy's
Office has been the resort of public men
from every State in the Union for thirty
years past, for both business aud social
intercourse, and the death of no other
citizen. of this community would cast
gloom over such wide expanse of terri
tory.
The Presidents departure from the
city without making an appointment Of
Postmaster in place of Conger, whose
commission has expired, has left the
many aspirants for the lucrative birth in
a state of uncertainty and uneasiness,
exceedingly enervating and prostratiDg,
when supplemented by the intensely
hot weather we are now having. The
salary is $1,000, and the half dozen Dis.
trict men who have been working to get
the place are afraid that the delay is
dangerous, and that it means the
appointment of an outsider to the posi-.
tion. The last three appointees holding
the position and dating back some fifteen
years haye been from the State of Michi.
gan, and it is asserted that the Postmaster
General, and Don Dickerson, the Demo.
cratic boss of the Wolverine State. are
pressing the claims of Einstein, of De.
troit, for the place. Considerable feel
ing has been worked up over the appoint
ment, and if it goes to nonresident, the
relations between the President and the
people of the district will be further
estranged than ever.
The Bell Telephone people have won
another victory in the Patent Office.
The motion Of Gray, the rival claimant
to allow him to amend his old applica-
ton by inserting the word "metallic"
before the word diaphragm" SO as to
form basis for claim to the metallic
diaphragm used in the telephones, has
been denied by the Primary Examiner
before whom the motion was argued.
An appeal will be taken to the Commits.
sioner in person, and then to the Secre.
tary if necessary. The motion was
argued by Conkling in behalf of Gray,
and storrow, for the Bell people. The
motion was denied on the ground that it
had been already decided in an interfer-
ence proceeding between the same par,
ties, and that Gray then abandoned it.
So far, the Bell people have been success.
full at every stage of the case in the
Patent Office.
Prof. W. T. Hornaday, the chief Taxi
dermist of the National Museum has
completed his work of mounting for the
Museum eleven of the twenty.six
bufaloes secured by. him during his
recent western trip. The animals range
in size from an enormous bull measuring
five feet to nine inches in height, which
is the largest buffalo ever known to have
been killed upon the prairies, to four
months old calf less than three feet in
heighth. After the work of preparing
the specimens was completed, the entire
herd were grouped in the park adjoining
the Museum, and large photographs
taken Of it., Professor Hornaday with
the corps Of assistants who accompanied
him on the hunting expedition, each
clothed in the hunting outfit of the prai-
ries, appear in the foreground Of the pic.
ture, and, so life.like are the posture of
the animals, and so natural their sur
roundings that it would be difficult to
convince one that the scene was not in
reality taken on the prairies, and the
animals alive, instead of mounted speci-
mems.
The remainder of the twenty.six
specimens will be sent to Museums in
various countries in exchange for other
exhibits for the Museum. The Western
trip alluded to was made for the express
purpose Of getting specimens of the Buff
falo for preservation, as the race is fast
disappearing from the plains of our
country. H.